About Jared

My name is Jared, and I’m still not entirely sure how I ended up living in paradise.
My partner ‘Rick’ and I (he’s shy, so that’s not his real name) are two American city boys who moved to rural New Zealand in 2006. We live on 20 acres just outside the charming wine and olive village of Martinborough, at the bottom of the North Island.

It’s a little different from where I grew up, which was the suburbs outside Detroit. I used to stay out till 5am dancing at clubs downtown, where we were frisked at the door for guns and knives. Now I get up at 5am to do yoga, write, and feed the chickens. Go figure.

“Dave’s Carrot Cake”

2 cups flour (For gluten free, replace flour with gluten free baking mix. I use Bakels.)
2 cups sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 and 1/2 cups cooking oil (I use canola.)
4 eggs
3 cups carrots, finely grated
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Sift dry ingredients together. Add oil, stirring constantly.
Add remaining ingredients and mix.
Place in two round springform pans. Bake at 350 °F / 175 °C for 45 minutes.

Frosting
1 package cream cheese (8 oz / 250 g)
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 pound of icing sugar! (16 0z = 453 g)